Chapter 1 Red

Ouch! It hurts so much! My head is pounding! The dream, full of strange and whispering voices, quickly shattered into pieces. Zhou Mingrui, who was sound asleep, felt an excruciating pain in his head, as if someone had hit him hard with a stick, or worse, as if a sharp object had pierced his temple and was stirring around inside! Hiss... In a daze, Zhou Mingrui tried to turn over, cover his head, and sit up, but he couldn't move his limbs at all. It seemed like his body had lost control. It looks like I haven't really woken up yet, I'm still in the dream... Maybe I'll think I'm awake later, but in reality, I'm still asleep... Zhou Mingrui, who was no stranger to such experiences, tried to concentrate his mind to break free from the darkness and the illusion. However, in this half-awake state, his will was always as elusive as smoke, difficult to control and difficult to contain. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but let his thoughts wander and his mind wander. Why would my head suddenly hurt so much in the middle of the night? Could it be a brain hemorrhage or something? Damn it, am I going to die young like this? Wake up! Wake up! Huh, it doesn't seem to hurt as much as before? But it still feels like a blunt knife is slowly cutting through my brain... It looks like I can't continue sleeping, how am I going to work tomorrow? What work? With a real headache like this, of course, I'll take a sick day! No need to worry about the manager's nagging! As he thought about it, it didn't seem like a bad idea after all. Hehe, stealing half a day of leisure! The waves of pain accumulated bit by bit, giving Zhou Mingrui a sense of unreal strength. Finally, he mustered up the courage to move his waist and back, open his eyes, and completely break free from his half-awake state. His vision was blurry at first, then tinged with a faint crimson. As far as his eyes could see, Zhou Mingrui saw a wooden desk in front of him, with an open notebook in the center. The paper was rough and yellowed, and an odd lettering was written on it in deep black ink, eye-catching and dripping with allure. On the left side of the notebook, near the edge of the desk, there was a neat stack of books, about seven or eight in total. On the wall to the right of them, there were grey and white pipes embedded, with a wall lamp connected to them. The lamp had a classical Western style, about half the size of an adult's head, with a transparent glass interior and a black metal grid surrounding it. Below the lamp, a black ink bottle emitted a faint red glow, with raised patterns on its surface forming a blurry angelic design. To the right of the notebook, in front of the ink bottle, there was a round and plump dark pen, its tip shimmering with a faint light, with its cap resting next to a brass-colored revolver. Revolver? Brass-colored? Zhou Mingrui was completely stunned, as everything he saw was so unfamiliar and had no resemblance to his own room! In shock and confusion, he noticed that the desk, notebook, ink bottle, and revolver were all covered in a crimson "veil," which was the light shining in from outside the window. Subconsciously, he lifted his head, and his gaze gradually rose: in mid-air, above the black "velvet curtain," a round, crimson full moon hung high and serene. This... Zhou Mingrui was inexplicably frightened, and he suddenly stood up, but before his legs could fully straighten, his head was hit by a sudden pain, causing him to briefly lose his strength and his center of gravity to fall, his buttocks hitting the hard wooden chair surface hard. Crack! The pain did not affect him, and he pressed his hand on the desk, stood up again, and turned his body around in a panic, surveying the environment he was in. It was a small room, with a brown door on each side, and a wooden bunk bed against the opposite wall. There was a cabinet between the left door and the wardrobe, with two doors on top and five drawers below. At the edge of the cabinet, at a height of about one person, there was a gray-white pipe embedded in the wall. However, it was connected to a strange mechanical device, with some gears and bearings exposed. In the right corner near the desk, there were things similar to coal stoves, as well as kitchen utensils such as soup pots and iron pots. Beyond the right door was a dressing mirror with two cracks, with a simple and plain pattern on the wooden base. With a glance, Zhou Mingrui vaguely saw himself in the mirror, his current self: black hair, brown eyes, linen shirt, thin body, ordinary features, and deep contours... This... Zhou Mingrui suddenly took a cold breath, and many helpless and chaotic guesses surged in his heart. The revolver, the European and American classical style decoration, and the crimson moon that was different from the earth, all indicated that something had happened! Am I... am I traveling through time and space? Zhou Mingrui's mouth slowly opened. He grew up reading online novels and often fantasized about this, but when it really happened, he found it hard to accept. This is probably what they call "the man who talks big but is afraid of dragons," right? After a few tens of seconds, Zhou Mingrui self-mockingly joked. If it weren't for the pain in his head, which made his thinking tense and clear, he would definitely suspect that he was dreaming. Calm down, calm down, calm down... After taking a few deep breaths, Zhou Mingrui tried to calm himself down. Just then, as his body and mind harmonized, fragments of memories suddenly jumped out and slowly appeared in his mind! Klein Moretti, a resident of Tinggen City, Ahova County, Luun Kingdom, North Continent, a recent graduate of the History Department of Hoi University... His father was a sergeant in the Royal Army and died in a colonial conflict in the South Continent. The compensation money he received gave Klein the opportunity to enter a private grammar school, laying the foundation for his admission to university... His mother was a follower of the Night Goddess and passed away the year Klein passed the entrance exam for Hoi University... He also had an older brother and a younger sister, who lived together in a two-bedroom apartment... The family was not wealthy, and could even be said to be poor, relying entirely on his brother's job as a clerk in an import and export company... As a graduate of the History Department, Klein mastered the ancient Gufusak language, which was said to be the source of writing in various countries in the North Continent, as well as the Hermes script that often appeared in ancient tombs and was related to worship and prayer... Hermes script? Zhou Mingrui's heart moved, he pressed his throbbing temple with his hand, and looked at the notebook spread out on the desk. The strange characters on the yellowed paper became unfamiliar, then familiar, and finally decipherable. These words were written in Hermes script! The deep black ink dripped with desire as it said, "Everyone will die, including me." Hiss! Zhou Mingrui was inexplicably frightened, his body instinctively leaning back, trying to distance himself from the notebook and these words. He was very weak, almost falling, and hurriedly reached out to hold the edge of the table, feeling the air around him becoming restless, with faint whispers echoing in his ears, giving him the feeling of listening to horror stories told by elders when he was a child. Shaking his head, it was all just an illusion. Zhou Mingrui stood firm again, took his eyes off the notebook, and took a deep breath. At this moment, his gaze fell on the shiny brass revolver, and a question popped into his mind. "With Klein's family background, how could he have the money and channels to buy a gun?" Zhou Mingrui couldn't help but frown. Lost in thought, he suddenly noticed a half-red handprint on the edge of the desk, darker than moonlight and thicker than "light gauze." It was a bloody handprint! "Bloody handprint?" Zhou Mingrui instinctively opened his right hand, which had been holding the edge of the table, and looked down, only to see his palm and fingers covered in blood. At the same time, the throbbing pain in his head continued, slightly weakening but still persistent. "Did I hit my head?" Zhou Mingrui guessed as he turned his body and walked towards the cracked dressing mirror. After a few steps, a figure of medium build, with black hair and brown eyes, and an obvious scholarly air, came into clear view. This is me now, Klein Moretti? Zhou Mingrui was stunned for a moment because it was too dark to see clearly in the middle of the night. He continued forward until he was only one step away from the mirror. Under the light of the delicate crimson moon, he turned his head to check the condition of his forehead. The clear reflection in the mirror showed a grotesque wound that sat on his temple, with burnt edges and blood stains around it.